The Chargers cut the ribbon on training camp this week with a machete. Now they can use it to start hacking at the forest of question mark flora (Boltum Enigmatica) planted over the past several months by A.J. Landscaping Inc.’s general manager. The facility is overrun with them.

At this juncture, there can be no greater mystery NFL team than the one still residing within our borders.

These are the New Chargers. Rarely — if ever — has this football franchise been so active during the offseason. A liberal guesstimate would have 20 free agents and rookies making the final 53-man roster, as many as six starters. In this league, that’s a garrison for a club that came within a fumbled quarterback snap of making the playoffs in 2011.

Then again, maybe not. That makes for the whodunit. All we know is General Manager A.J. Smith wrote it. The denouement is not on the first page of this novel. Some of these spots are very crowded. Players are lined up.

With all this in mind, allow me to present 10 hot-button issues as we chop through the thick, putrid jungle of the exhibition season to the prairie of September, when light will be shed.

Bottom of the ninth. This very well could be the last inning for Turner if this team doesn’t at least make the playoffs. There are Mongolians who thought Norv would be canned after last year’s 8-8 season, which included six straight losses. But club captain Dean Spanos decided to stay the course, and it was the right decision. It’s quite possible Spanos couldn’t have done better.

What happens in camp probably will make or break. Norv has to sift through many new guys. He has more running backs and tight ends than he possibly can keep. Will he use more tight ends, ala New England? Does he plan to run more now that he has Le’Ron McClain to sub for Ryan Mathews (Norv, contrary to legend, loves to run). Added to the receiving corps, to go along with Malcom Floyd and Vincent Brown, are rapid free agents Robert Meachem, Eddie Royal, Roscoe Parrish and Michael Spurlock.

This team will be faster and quicker on both sides of the ball. It will be up to Turner to take full advantage of what I consider a superb offseason by his GM.

Was last season an aberration, when, especially in the first half, Rivers wasn’t the Rivers we have known? Yes. I have no doubt. The button may be hot, but cool down. This is an elite quarterback. But much depends on the next hot button.

3 Offensive line

Perhaps the combination to the lock. When McNeill and Dielman went down in 2011, Rivers wasn’t the same. Chiefs mammoth left tackle castoff Jared Gaither (since re-signed) came in and was a revelation. Can he remain that good? Tyronne Green was a fine sub for Dielman and he now starts. Right guard Louis Vasquez could be on the verge of prominence. Jeromey Clary is underrated at right tackle and center Nick Hardwick is among the best.

But there is little fat here. They simply cannot afford another crippled offensive line.

4 Steve Fairchild

How will the San Diegan (Henry High, Mesa College quarterback) work with Turner as “senior offensive assistant/special assignments?” I’ve always thought that, because he calls his own plays as a head coach, Turner’s major weakness was game/clock management. Just too much to do.

Fairchild, we believe, has been brought in to help. He’s been a head coach (Colorado State). He knows the game. I presume he can read a clock. Don’t discount this addition. It could be major. If minor, it could be curtains.

When healthy, the tight end is one of football’s great difference-makers — brilliant, mystical, almost impossible to cover. But that health hasn’t hung around much the past few years, his planter fasciitis-racked foot largely denying him his magic. But Antonio’s been running around like a kid again.

This could be the biggest part of the puzzle. With a healthy Gates, this should be one of The League’s great offenses. And that’s no joke.

6 Ryan Mathews

People around the tailback see a breakout year. There’s no denying his talent, and unlike last season, he will enter camp in great shape and not out of breath. But there must be a complete fumbleitis cure, and a great back takes things farther than has Mathews. He should be a climax runner.

He takes over for canned Greg Manusky as defensive coordinator. Turner and Smith made no larger offseason decision. Manusky not only had problems adjusting on the fly, but at halftime. His defense was not the gambling, attacking type, far too predictable and reluctant to change. Its performance in Detroit was disgraceful. The Chargers were last in the league getting off the field on third down in 2011. A repeat will be a disaster.

If this offense is what we think it can be, Pagano doesn’t have to be Buddy Ryan. John Pagano will do.

The Chargers used their first-round draft choice on the versatile linebacker. He may have been the steal of the draft, but that, of course, must play out. They need a pass rush, they have to get off the field defensively, and have moved through the aisles of the free-agent market and draft central to buy hope.

Prediction: No pass rush, no playoffs.

9 Strong safety

A piece that has been missing since Rodney Harrison wrongly was released following the 2002 season. Smith drafted LSU’s Brandon Taylor, who is bright and a leader, and brought in free agent Atari Bigby from Green Bay. Free safety Eric Weddle, who has blossomed into a first-team All-Pro, needs help back there. This is absolutely critical (and corners Quentin Jammer and Antoine Cason must be better than they were in 2011 or it won’t matter).

10 Field goal kickers

Who will win the job, Nate Kaeding, the veteran lost for the year after his 2011 opening kickoff, or Nick Novak, who replaced him (hot early, cooler later on)? Novak has the stronger leg. Kaeding is more accurate — except in January, when he has had hoof and miss disease.